Warner Aids In Education Testing

The senator asks the U.S. Department of Education to give the state time to develop a new reading test.

Virginia public school districts struggling to come up with a new way to test English language learners received some hope Monday from the state's senior U.S. senator.

Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings asking her to give Virginia more time to develop a new test to meet the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Warner's letter comes a month after the state board of education approved changes to the state's testing program to comply with the law.

Warner said he believes in the federal law's goals, but noted "there have been challenges in implementing the law.

The four-year-old federal law requires states to develop learning standards in core subjects and then test students in grades 3-8 and high school to see whether they have mastered reading and math skills.

The law states all students must pass the state tests by 2014, regardless of race, income, disability or language proficiency. But the law allows states to use alternative tests for special education students and students learning English for the first time.

Virginia adopted a test that measures English proficiency to use as its substitute, but in June the federal education department said Virginia's substitute test was unacceptable and withheld approval of the state's accountability program.

At its Oct. 25 meeting, the state board of education dumped the old alternative test and approved a new one that uses portfolios of student work to determine whether students meet reading standards.

The new test will be used in April 2007.

But several superintendents from districts with large populations of English language learners said the action gave them no time to train teachers to use the new test.

They predicted thousands of students would fail the new alternative test, and their schools and districts would not meet the state's 2007 student achievement improvement goals, another requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The board directed State Superintendent of Public Instruction Billy K. Cannaday Jr. to meet with federal education officials and ask for more time to phase in the new test. Cannaday will meet with Assistant Education Secretary Henry Johnson Dec. 11.

Warner has asked Spellings to inform him of any action related to Virginia's request for more time. *